KAEPERNICK A PLAYOFF LEGEND

Sets QB record for rushing yards in win over Pack

Colin Kaepernick not only justified Jim Harbaugh’s faith, not only had one of the best postseason games in the storied history of a franchise with a pair of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, he had one of the greatest statistical games in NFL playoff history.

The San Francisco 49ers will play in their second straight NFC Championship Game, though this time with a different quarterback, after that QB shredded the Green Bay Packers en route to a 45-31 victory in Saturday night’s divisional playoff game.

Kaepernick, in his first playoff game and just the eighth overall start of his career, ran for an NFL postseason record 181 yards, which included touchdown runs of 56 and 20 yards. It was, in fact, the most yards rushing by any NFL quarterback in any game.

He also completed 17 of 31 for 263 yards and another two scores as the 49ers amassed a franchise playoff record 579 total yards.

Throwing without fear, running the way few quarterbacks can, Kaepernick got an old stadium rocking and perhaps signaled the start of an era presided over by the newest 49ers QB legend.

Sure, he has a long way to go before following Joe Montana and Steve Young into the Hall of Fame, but Saturday night was epic on its own.

Kaepernick’s 444 combined yards of offense were most ever by a 49ers quarterback in a postseason game. His two touchdowns were one shy of Otto Graham’s NFL record set in 1954.

It didn’t start like it ended. It actually appeared Harbaugh might be facing some postgame scrutiny. This game was, after all, a sort of referendum on the coach’s November switch from vet Alex Smith to Kaepernick.

His second pass, on the fourth play of the game, was intercepted and returned 52 yards for a touchdown. His third and fourth pass fell incomplete. His fifth was a short lob to Frank Gore that went for 45 yards. Three plays later, Kaepernick dropped, looked deep toward his receivers on the right and then ran left untouched for 20 yards to tie the game, 7-7.

The rest of the way, there was no sign of any first-postseason nerves.

“He’s always under control,” 49ers guard Alex Boone said. “He never gets out of whack, no matter what happens.”

With his team down 24-21, with his 96 passing yards 11 yards shy of Kaepernick’s rushing total to that point, Aaron Rodgers appeared on the verge of showing who owned a Super Bowl MVP trophy with a drive in the middle of the third quarter.

Rodgers completed all four of his passes for 48 yards as Green Bay moved from its 11 to the 49ers’ 18 before an incompletion and false start contributed to the Packers settling for a field goal that tied the game at 24-24.

But between then and a meaningless drive for a TD in the final minute, Rodgers would complete just eight of 13 for a mere 61 yards.

Kaepernick never slowed.

While it wasn’t the Montana-led 92-yard TD drive to win Super Bowl XXIII, the 93-yard drive punctuated by Anthony Dixon’s 2-yard run that extended the 49ers’ lead to three scores was as important as any this franchise has seen in some time.

Saturday was merely a continuation of what Kaepernick did in compiling a 99.9 passer rating (10 TDs, three interceptions) and rushing for 415 yards and five more TDs in the regular season.

But this was the postseason, where legends are made and otherwise stellar careers diminished.

“He acted like he was a 10-year vet,” Staley said. “His confidence … He was on another level.”